Pedal Power at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry

A new exhibition charts the city's rich cycling heritage, celebrating the triumphs of Victoria Pendleton and others in the velodrome as well as some lesser known heroes from yesteryear. Helen Pidd reports

A sneaky peak inside British Cycling's Secret Squirrel club, from Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry's Pedal Power exhibition

Now that it is nicknamed the Gold Medal Factory, everyone knows the names of world famous cyclists who honed their craft going round and round in circles at Manchester’s velodrome: Victoria Pendleton, Chris Hoy, Sarah Storey, Bradley Wiggins. But way before Wiggo and his professional cohort became Sirs and Dames, there was Jack Sibbit, the son of an Ancoats butcher, who won silver on his tandem in the 1928 Olympics but who was unable to go for gold in the 1932 games because he couldn’t afford to shut his bike shop to travel to Los Angeles.

Sibbit, a renowned bike builder in his time, is one unsung hero celebrated in Pedal Power, a new, free exhibition at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry (Mosi), which charts the city’s rich cycling heritage. Also given rightful recognition is Reg Harris, a five-time world sprint champion from Bury, a natty-dressing ladies man whose world champion jersey and helmet are on display.

The show is timed to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the National Cycling Centre – the Sunday name of Manchester’s splendid velodrome, which has expanded in recent years to include an indoor BMX track and mountain bike trail park. It includes a series of new behind-the-scenes video, including a peak inside British Cycling’s Secret Squirrel Club, where a team of techies tinker with Team GB’s bicycles (see above).

The velodrome was only built in 1994 because Manchester needed to have one ready-made Olympic standard venue when it made its doomed bid for the 2000 Olympics, according to Meg McHugh, curator of Mosi’s industrial heritage exhibits. “It was the cheapest venue they could make, and when Manchester lost out to Sydney, it looked as though it was going to be a ‘white elephant’ until British Cycling decided to relocate there from their old base in Kettering, Northhamptonshire. There was a lot of grumbling about it all being a waste of money until Jason Queally won gold on the track in Sydney and more Lottery funding came through.”

The exhibition, which opened earlier this month, includes the bike on which Pendleton rode to glory in the 2012 olympics, as well as classic bicycles from the museum’s own collection. There is a “boneshaker” with wooden wheels from 1868, built in Salford, a heavy beast of a machine which must have been exhausting to propel along the city’s cobbled streets. Also on show is a penny farthing, or “ordinary”, from 1885.

Penny Farthing on show at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry’s Pedal Power exhibiton Photograph: /MOSI

Tribute is paid to Swiss born Hans Renold, an honorary Mancunian who invented the precursor to the modern bicycle chain and then altruistically let the cycling industry use his invention for free in their designs. Renold’s innovation led to the popularity of what were known as “safety bicycles”, named because they were significantly easier to control than their chainless precursors. An early model, from 1896, on show at Mosi, has an aluminium frame and looks more or less the same as the sort of bikes we ride today.Pedal Power runs at Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry until 1 March next year. For details see: http://www.mosi.org.uk/whats-on/pedal-power.aspx